Ellsworth holds off Knights

Saturday

Sep 30, 2017 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Arne Green @arnegreen

ELLSWORTH — Much as the Sacred Heart Knights battled back, when they tried to thwart Ellsworth's drive for a first-ever North Central Activities Association championship, Zac Schneider wasn't having it.

"I told coach (Josh Homolka) after we'd had a couple of fumbles that I wanted the ball in my hands," said Schneider, the Bearcats' senior quarterback. "I wanted to win that game bad."

Schneider made good on his plea, carrying the ball eight straight times on a clinching 46-yard drive and scoring with 1 minutes, 23 seconds left as the Bearcats escaped with a 38-27 victory Friday night.

With the victory, Ellsworth improved to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in the NCAA, clinching at least a tie the league title. Sacred Heart fell to 1-4, all in the conference.

It was another hard-luck loss for Sacred Heart, which rallied from a 22-0 deficit to pull within three early in the fourth quarter.

"It was a big hole, but I thought we fought back the way we should," Sacred Heart coach Garrett Galanski said. "It was 22-15 at halftime and we had the momentum.

"I was really proud of how we battled."

After Ellsworth extended its halftime advantage to 30-15 on Schneider's 3-yard run with 4:36 left in the third quarter, the Knights came back with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. David Anderson scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 11:41 left, and one play after Charlie Skidmore intercepted Schneider at the Bearcat 37, Anderson hit Jordan on a screen pass and run to cut it to 30-27 with 9:14 to go.

"It doesn't look like it, but we've got a lot of guys down," Galanski said of Sacred Heart's injury woes. "We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing and we really competed."

The Knights got the defensive stop they needed following Jordan's touchdown, but Schneider's 52-yard punt pinned them back at their 14-yard line. There they were unable to come up with a first down.

Following the punt, it was Schneider time, as he ran the ball on each play, scoring on a 5-yarder.

"Dude's a stud athlete," Galanski said of Schneider, who rushed 19 times for 167 yards and two touchdowns, plus completed 6 of 10 passes for 74 and two more scores. "Hats off to coach Homolka and the Ellsworth Bearcats.

"They played a heck of a game."

Ellsworth got off to a quick start in the game, scoring on its first three possessions for a 22-0 lead before Sacred Heart rallied.

The Bearcats took the opening kickoff and marched 69 yards in five plays with Schneider hitting Bransen Schulte with a 21-yard touchdown pass. After recovering a Sacred Heart fumble at the Knights' 47, they needed just two plays for Jordan Base to break free for a 42-yard run.

Schneider hit Remington Cravens on a 33-yard touchdown strike for the third score.

But Sacred Heart got one back with 1:26 left in the opening quarter on an Anderson 2-yard run, then trimmed it to 22-15 when Anderson found Jake Faerber for a 53-yard touchdown.

Anderson completed 14 of 26 passes for 235 yards as the Knights got 242 of their 277 total yards through the air. Jordan had five catches for 97 yards and Faerber four for 94.